A Pleasant Halloween Recollection
by Warcroft
Summary: In his sixth year, George recollects the Halloween of his second year. First person. Challenge fic. Ties in with The Lost Soul chapter 7.


**Colie88's Halloween Challenge f****rom Harry Pott****er Fanfiction Challenges!**

**Must include:  
**_A vampire, black cat, and ghost must appear somewhere in the story.  
Flash back to previous Halloween.  
Mu__st mention/exp__lain "muggle" trick or treating to someone, and/or complain about it. __D__  
Must have at least 3 candy bars mentioned.  
Stomach ache must be involved.  
Firewhiskey drank/mentioned.  
Party hosted by the Three Broomsticks must be in it.  
Witches hat must be worn by your main character at some point. __  
Quote "It's al__ready over? Oh m__an…I thought it was just the beginning!"  
A scary/ghost/legend story to do with Halloween._

Fred and I ran up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, taking two at a time. Somehow we had managed to be the first ones back from dinner. Titan sat in her chair, reading in front of the fire, and we swooped upon her like a couple of hawks. "Have you heard?" I asked.

She looked up at us, with barely an inkling of curiosity shining in her eyes, "Who's the Hogwarts champion?'

I decided I would let Fred break the bad news to her, "Cedric Diggory."

She snorted in disgust, "The Goblet picked that prat?" she turned and looked at Fred for confirmation.

He nodded before he added, "And Harry."

Titan gasped and stood up so abruptly that her book flew off her lap and went flying into the fire. It would have been funny, and I would have laughed, if her face hadn't had such a horrified expression stamped upon it.

Quickly we told her all the details that we knew so far, that Harry's name had flown out of the Goblet last and he had been ushered into the antechamber with all of the other champions. When we finished, she nodded, killing the haunted and contemplative look in her eyes. What we told her must have upset her, normally she would have shrieked and tried to grab the burning book, but she just summoned another one and calmly sat down to read it.

I, along with all the other Gryffindors, anxiously awaited Harry's arrival. And when he did finally grace us with his presence, the whole of the common room descended upon him like a pack of ravenous hyenas. My concern for Titan was forgotten until Harry went to bed and I stole a glance at her. She still sat, in that same chair, reading that same book. This was the first time I could remember that Titan had not taken part in a Halloween celebration.

_**Four years previously.**_

_We found her, exactly where we knew she'd be, down by the dungeons, terrorizing some poor stranded Ravenclaw first year. I nudged Fred__ to call for h__er, but he shook his head fiercely. He always had been a ninny when it came to girls he actually liked. _

"_Hey Titan!" I hollered. She turned, and the leer she had been aiming at the first year immediately dissolved into an ear to ear grin as she launched herself at us. _

"_Boys!" She collided with us and we toppled over backwards, our backs slamming painfully against the stone floor. Titan hugging us both, while we lay there on the floor of the corridor, must've been the weirdest thing that anyone passing by had seen in a terribly long time. _

"_Do you have the robes?" she asked as she sat up on her knees which were way too close to important parts of Fred's and mine anatomy._

_I sat up as well, scooting back a little to gain comfort, "Well, we were wondering if instead of the annual party, if you wanted to go to the gig at The Three Broomsticks with us. We'd have to sneak out, of course, but I'm sure it'll be worth it, what with the free Firewhiskey and all."_

_She sat there for a few minutes, staring into my face and then down at Fred, who was still sprawled on the floor, the idiot. She crossed her arms, "No. I'd rather not." Titan gave us a couple moments to try and coax her, and when we didn't, she stood, "Well, gentleman, if that's all."_

_Fred jumped up just as she started to turn away, and I couldn't help but grin at the fact that he was finally growing a pair. He grabbed her arm as I stood, "I'll bring you the robes," he muttered in her ear._

_The excitement returned to Titan's face as she grinned, "Good, meet me here in an hour." she winked and then walked away._

_Fred and I walked into the boys dormitory. I had just pulled the set of Gryffindor girls robes out of the bottom of my trunk when there were three thunks on the floor in front of me. I bent down and picked up the last three muggle candy bars that father had given Fred and I. I held them up to my twin, "Do you think we should give them to her?" _

_Fred seemed to contemplate something for a moment before he nodded, "Quick, hand me the robes, I've got to be down there soon, I'm taki__ng the map." he__ waved at me as he left the room._

_The night went off without a hitch. The older students that knew who Titan was really didn't care that there was a Slytherin in the Gryffindor common room. I think they figured that because she was pals with Fred and I that she was alright. She even conned everyone into playing an acting game, forcing me to join in by plopping a ragged and slightly moldy witch's hat on my head. In the spirit of things, I knicked some poor first years glasses off his face and perched them on my nose. I straightened my back and pursed my lips. "Weasley! Come here!" I said, my voice pitched, and pointing at my twin._

_Lee Jordan fell off his chair, "It's Mcgonagall!" _

_Someone pointed behind me as the common room went silent. I turned around slowly, afraid of what I was about to see, and came face to face with my House Head, "Oh, crap."_

_Professor Mcgonagall stood, looking around the room, her eyes fell on me, and I could've sworn she was either going to laugh at me, or give me detention until the end of my seventh year. I was fervently hoping it was the first. She must ave stared at me for a good five minutes before she spoke, "Mr. Weasley, I have a riddle for you, rather, I am in need of your help to answer this riddle."_

_Slowly I nodded my head, too scared to speak._

_Professor Mcgonagall's eyes flicked to the hat yet again, "I do not belong here, yet here is where I have chosen. What am I? If I cross your path, especially underneath an open ladder, you are sure to have bad luck. What am I? I hunt in the absence of light, sustaining my life by ending yours. What am I?"_

_I thought for a few moments, looking down at the floor. What didn't belong but chose to stay? Ghosts were the imprints of departed souls...that was it! A ghost! And didn't muggles believe in "stupidstitions" or something like that...what was the one about crossing a path...black cat! Absence of light, that would be dark...killing someone in order to stay alive..a vampire!_

_My head shot back up, "A ghost, a black cat, and a vampire!"_

_Professor Mcgonagall looked pleased as she nodded, "Thank you, George. Thirty points for Gryffindor! Well, I'll be off, continue everyone!" and she exited through the portrait hall grumbling something or another about Snape._

_Once she had left the common room, I ripped the hat off my head and desperately tried to cram it down Fred's laughing throat. I immediately had to dodge away as the first year whose glasses I borrowed keeled over onto the floor, writhing in agony from a stomachache. _

_There was a minor activity where the older students sat at tables and the first years all went around the common room, answering questions to get candy, something like muggle"Trick or Treating', but without the stupid costumes. There was much grumbling among the first years of lesser intelligence, who were failing miserably to get any candy._

_We readily switched activities to ghost story telling, the person that told the best story got a special treat from either Fred or I. As we were preparing for this task I snuck the candy bars into Titan's robes. _

_The first few stories were told by very brave first years, that, according to Titan's hilarious sideline commentary, needed to go back to grammar lessons. After the twelfth story told, Titan said all too loudly, "It's al__ready over? Oh m__an…I thought it was just the beginning!" _

_I laughed with the rest as she stood up very exaggeratedly, and taking a pose of importance, said, "All right all you ickle firsties, watch the master. And learn."_

"_It all happened a long, long, time ago, on an All Hallows Eve much like this one," this was how she began her tale. It was clear she was telling us a muggle story, because there was an evil witch in it's midst. Over the next two hours, she made us all laugh, and quiver in fear so much so that somewhere in the middle, Fred and I were clutching each other, scared beyond reason. Titan's telling of the story even had quite a few of the girls in tears._

"_...And little Mary wandered into the woods all by her lonesome, in search of that elusive ingredient that would save her from a terribly gruesome fate. For little Miss Mary had no desire to become a stew. And so, Mary searched, and searched, until way beyond the midnight hour. But little did Mary know that she was being watched. Then all of a sudden, there was a snap! of a twig, and the poor girl spun around to see what was there. She looked left, she looked right, she looked up, and then she looked dow-" _

_Suddenly, Titan screamed and threw herself into my lap, clutching me about the neck, "And then boys and girls, she died. But unfortunately, Little Miss Mary, would never know that what stalked her was a pair of fluffy white bunnies."_

_In the stunned silence that followed, Fred turned to me, "Well, George, what do you think? You think Titan should get the prize?"_

_I nodded my approval, trying not to notice that she was still in my lap._

_Titan looked at us like a kid on Christmas morning, "What's my prize?" she said, eagerly looking into my face._

_Alas, no one but her got to know, as Professor Mcgonagall came bustling into the common room and shooed us all off to bed. Before Titan could scurry up the stairs to the girls dormitory, I grabbed her arm and whispered into her ear, "If you want your prize, check your pockets, you'll find 3 Musketeers, Snickers, and a Milky Way."_

_The puzzled expression on her face as Angelina practically dragged her up the stairs told me that she had no clue as to what I was talking about. The next morning I was thanked with a kiss._

**Present Day.**

SMACK! My cheek was throbbing and I was staring into a pair of cold gray eyes, "Titan? Why did you just hit me?"

She sighed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Because no one else could get you to respond to them. Anyways, I'm off to bed."

I watched her until she disappeared, rubbing my stinging cheek.


End file.
